Whale Migrates

More and more musicians are losing the delicate art of infusing their music with soul. Not soul in the sense of smooth shakers like Barry White--I'm talking about the kind of soul that fights numb torpor and erases indifference. The kind that stirs powerful emotions inside of a person, the kind that can get a reaction.

It's understandable that techno musicians might forget about soul, too enchanted by the heady relationship between a mixer and the human ear. This fact is all-too obvious to Moby, one of the most important figures of the early-90s dance scene, a controversial artist who has always stretched the boundaries of techno. On his latest album, Play, those boundaries are completely obliterated in a sea of soulful music that's eerily timeless and breathtakingly beautiful.

Unlike the hard guitar dabblings on past works like his paranoid cover of Mission of Burma's "That's When I Reach For My Revolver," or the insistent dance of his "James Bond" theme, Play is subtler in sound. Moby intricately combines gospel and blues samples with modern instrumentation to form a hybrid of old and new. Songs like the haunting "Why does my heart feel so bad?" and the jaunty "Run On" are distinctly modern yet also contain profound echoes of the past.

This meshing of eras is most effective on the standout track "Porcelain." Crackling with the sounds of a vintage record player and a wordless chorus, the song ebbs and flows with synthesized vocals and drumbeats, all carried by tranquil New Age piano.

Equally brilliant is the more personal "My Weakness." A quintessential closing song, the soaring instrumental sounds like it should be playing over a camera pan of a glorious landscape scene at the end of a movie, or even to the end of a life.

Make no mistake, this album is not just nifty samples recycled over drum beats, a la Puff Daddy. The above songs are masterpieces not of genre-bending, but of genre-using. The rest of Play is no different. Sinewy piano parts easily outmaneuver the drums on "Rushing" and the throbbing "Everloving." The tradition of hard Moby dance floor tracks is continued with "Bodyrock" and "Machete." And "If Things Were Perfect"brings a modern version of acoustic R.E.M. or Simon and Garfunkel to mind.

It is ultimately Moby's careful hand that makes this album truly special, by knowing what to sample and how to incorporate these elements with a modern twist. Sounding nothing like anything currently being released, Play burbles with life and vitality that will reverberate long after its last notes have faded.